PITTSFIELD — Spencer Minihan knows the Waterville boys basketball team has a reputation, and it’s not a good one.
Taking a moment to reflect Saturday after a 52-46 win over Maine Central Institute, the senior forward was blunt: For what seems like an eternity, the Purple Panthers have flat-out stunk. With a record of 22-116 since the start of the 2014-15 season entering the year, the team’s reputation as a bottomfeeder isn’t inaccurate — but it’s still one Minihan wants to bury.
“We’re tired of the old Waterville culture,” Minihan said. “We want to start winning, and we want to make it to (the tournament in Bangor). We haven’t done it in years, so turning things around and doing that, that’s really been our drive.”
It’s a lofty goal for a team that went 1-17 in the regular season a year ago to finish at the very bottom of Class B North. But the Panthers believe they’re on their way after a string of victories, the latest of which has the team red-hot as it begins the 2023 portion of the schedule.
Waterville claimed its fourth consecutive win Saturday as it led a competitive contest for nearly the entire game against a feisty MCI team. The win saw the Panthers double their win total from last year’s final 2-18 mark with two-thirds of their regular season schedule still to play.
After a back-and-forth first few minutes that included four lead changes, Waterville (4-2) took a 14-11 lead into the second quarter behind six points each from Minihan and John Nawfel. The Panthers would keep the lead all the way through the half, though MCI trailed just 26-23 at the break as the visitors couldn’t quite pull away.
The game remained tight early in the third quarter before Waterville held MCI (1-6) without a basket for the final five minutes of the period to take a 38-28 lead. Then, on the very first possession of the fourth quarter, Nick Poulin buried a corner 3 to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game.
“We wanted to speed them up,” sophomore guard Dustan Hunter said of the team’s success on defense in the third quarter. “We wanted them to play at our tempo and not at their own tempo. We sped them up on defense, and on offense, we slowed it down a little bit to make sure we got a good shot.”
MCI eventually adjusted and had its best offensive period of the game in the fourth behind eight points from Braden Fitts. Yet with Waterville being relatively consistent from the free-throw line down the stretch, it wasn’t enough for the Huskies as Waterville secured its first four-game winning streak since January 2013.
Minihan led Waterville in points, rebounds and steals with 13, 12 and five, respectively. The Panthers also got seven points from Ethan Hobart and six points each from Hunter, Poulin, Nawfel and Jace Bryant. Caleb Kennedy had 13 points and four rebounds for MCI, and Fitts had 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Although Waterville had a tough season overall last year, there was a moment that provided a spark for the Panthers as they looked ahead to 2022-23. It came on the exact-same floor against MCI as Waterville came back from a 15-point halftime deficit in the Class B North play-in game to win 69-67 and advance to the prelims.
Waterville’s Jace Bryan, left, plays defense as MCI’s Carter Bubar shoots during a boys basketball game Saturday in Pittsfield. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal
“When we got that win, I think it was big for our guys because they said, ‘Oh, we can play with these teams,’” said Waterville head coach Sam Smith. “They beat us twice in the regular season, but then we came here the third time and beat them. That was a big spark, for sure.”
Waterville had a similar moment this year in its second game of the season, an 85-63 defeat to Mount View. That game saw the Panthers lead a team in the upper echelon of Class B North by seven midway through the third quarter before the Mustangs caught fire to come away with the win.
“They’re a really tough team, and we came out firing,” said Hunter, whose team followed the loss to Mount View with wins against Leavitt, Belfast and John Bapst before topping MCI. “The score doesn’t really show how close that game was. I think we knew then that we were clicking and could be great if we played together as a team.”
Keeping it going into 2023, though, is going to be the tough part for Waterville. After facing one of their toughest tests Tuesday against rival Winslow, the Panthers will then take on tough Maranacook, Hermon and Lincoln Academy squads in a three-game home stand.
Getting a home prelim game would bring Waterville a long way toward reaching the Cross Center for the first time ever, and to do so, the Panthers might need wins in the majority of those games. It’s an uphill climb — but not one too steep for a team that’s used to being counted out.
“Listen, we’ve been underdogs our whole life,” Smith said. “This program has had two winning seasons in the past 22 years. We live with that mentality, and we don’t care who we play; we’re coming at you.”
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